The Crucible's 7th Annual Fire & Light: Soirée and Art Auction

Starting to work on a special, one-of-a-kind hat to donate for The Crucible's 7th Annual Fire & Light: Soirée and Art Auction. I'm delighted to help support this amazing arts organization.

From their website:

The Crucible is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts education organization that fosters a collaboration of arts, industry, and community.  Through training in the fine and industrial arts, The Crucible promotes creative expression, reuse of materials, and innovative design, while serving as an accessible arts venue for the general public in the Bay Area. Known for one-of-a-kind industrial arts education programs, The Crucible is also highly regarded for its innovative performances.

From metal fabrication, blacksmithing, neon, glass blowing, ceramics, welding, kinetics, and fire dancing, The Crucible provides cutting-edge arts education programs to 5,000 adult and youth students annually.  Our instructors have extensive experience and a passion for what they teach.  Our industrial art classes are designed to attract novices as well as experienced artists and craftspeople to a noncompetitive environment where people with diverse interests and backgrounds can work together and learn from one another.

 For more information about classes and events at The Crucible, see their website.

Simplicity Pattern Photo

Theresa LaQuey is a very talented custom clothier who specializes in Art Deco and vintage-inspired evening wear and wedding dresses. We first met years ago when I hired her to help out with my 1930s-style wedding dress, and I was impressed with her combination of impeccable style, top-notch sewing skills, and attention to detail. In addition to her sewing business serving individual clients, Theresa is also a skilled pattern designer and produces her own name-brand line of patterns for the Simplicity Pattern Company.

I was super thrilled when Theresa recently asked me to provide hats for the photo shoot for her most recent design for Simplicity. Theresa chose a cherry Una mini top hat and an Yvette top hat to compliment the steampunk-Victorian theme of the clothes. Here's the image of the pattern envelope. Love how the photos turned out.

Men's Hats: In Progress

Now that the Dandy fashion show is over, I'm rarin' to go on more men's hats. So many ideas. This is a totally janky quick photo, but I've figured out how to make my own pugarees (folded fabric bands) for straw hats, using gorgeous Italian silk tie fabrics. The feather trim is Lavender Turkey. Better photos in a few weeks after more samples are completed.